Sit down at the Lee’s Diner service counter, and you can see where 66 years of elbows have rubbed away at the counter-top.

“It’s an old diner,” owner Omar Ilayan said as he wiped away a smudge from the face of a steel fridge. “You can’t make it like a diner that was built yesterday.”

The diner’s age is both a boon and a curse for Ilayan, who bought it in 2006.

On one hand, the diner is a piece of Americana – the building equivalent of a classic car. It sits in West Manchester Township along the Lincoln Highway — one of the nation's first cross-country roads — where it attracts adventurers, as well as a host of regulars.

The exhaust hood from the original diner, left, is no longer in use, and has been replaced with the hood at left inside the kitchen at Lee's Diner in West Manchester Township. Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record

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“It’s quaint,” said Dennis Lamaster, of Seven Valleys, who has coffee at the diner most mornings. “It’s neat. It’s different.”

On the other hand, the building is full of the problems that come with age. Ilayan has redone the roof three times. The air conditioner crapped out a few years ago. He had to order a new handle for his fridge from China because the company that made the fridge has been out of business for decades.

The restaurant, built long before the Americans with Disabilities Act, would never pass muster if it were new, Ilayan said.

It’s also been hard to keep the old diner in compliance with the state inspectors. The restaurant has failed four Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture food safety inspections since Feb. 21., most recently on May 23. The most recent failed inspection got him a $3,000 fine.

The health inspections have been his biggest problem, Ilayan said. “I lost about 90 percent of my business.”

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Samer Ilayan, age 19, the son of Omar works at Lee's Diner.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

Still, the diner car has its fans, Ilayan said, including history buffs. The Mountain View Diner Company built the stainless steel structure in Singac, New Jersey, during the post-war diner boom. It was one of about 400 such buildings the company made.

From New Jersey it came to West Manchester, where it went into service in 1951.

The “Lee” in the restaurant's name was the name of the first owner, Lee Paxton. It has since had nine owners, including Ilayan – all of whom are listed on the front of the menus.

Ilayan’s life intersected with the old diner after his own journey. He was born in Bethlehem on the West Bank in 1956 and left at age 18 to study economics in Germany.

After a decade living in Germany, he came to York County, where he started working as a cook. “I cooked everywhere,” he said, listing a half-dozen restaurants, including Round the Clock Diner and San Carlos.

In 2006 he decided it was time to go into business for himself. With some help from his brother, a medical doctor in Germany, he bought the diner.

One year later, he had a heart attack. Then the health inspectors started coming.

It's been a struggle ever since.

He used to make from $800 to $1,000 each morning for breakfast. Now he’s lucky if he earns $150 each morning.

He used to employ 22 people. Now he employs about eight.

He used to have cooks. Now, he does most of the cooking.

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The kitchen at Lee's Diner is in the house attached to the diner in the front.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

They used to have pies made by local resident Theresa Redding, but after she died Ilayan struggled to find a regular supplier and the business dropped off.

These days, Ilayan said, most of his customers are regulars who don’t care what the health inspectors have to say.

“I find more and more people are too damn picky today,” said Lamaster, a 72-year-old who worked at Vertis Communications until the company closed down its West York printing plant in 2010. “This is a plain, ordinary diner. Give us a break!”

Louie Hauck said he just doesn’t think about it. Hauck, of Dover Township, comes to the diner most mornings, “just to talk to people.”

“And argue with waitresses,” said Wendy Ard, a waitress.

“We talk about Trump,” said Dennis "Cupcake" Grimes, 67, who is retired after working 30 years at P.H. Glatfelter.

How long it lasts remains a question, however. The state can't shut him down, but his repeated failed health inspections result in both fines and lost business.

Ilayan said his college-aged children have thought about taking over the business.

He's also thought about selling.

Either way, he hopes that someone finds a way to preserve the diner. It is eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Places, Ilayan said, and he would like to see that happen. "Do they want to preserve history in this country, or do they want to tear it down?"